Disapointed of the BLM changes we could see so far

[Leika]

First of all, I would like to point out that you have to play the changes first before you can have an exact opinion on them, but I would like to address of a few things in the hope that they might find a way to SE before the patch.

1. Why are the cast times so drastically shortened? if i wanted to play a fast BLM i either socketed SPS or not now i don't have a choice anymore!

2. Why is BLM still in the game? Or whats the benefit from playing it? if you want to do damage just play picto and if you want a simple rapidfire caster you can play SMN why do all classes have to feel the same.
Please don't make all classes equally easy, there should be variance so everyone can choose what they want to play.

On a positive note, they finally fixed thunderhead, thanks a lot!

(I know its abit of a rant, but i love playing BLM so much and i love the game. QoL changes are totally valid and fine but not of the cost of core gameplay mechanics the jobs had)

Hopefully im not alone with this, and SE dont take this route further for BLM in 8.0

[imhae]

Totally agree, please devs revert the changes, it's horrible

[GuyNamedGatsby]

I am ok with the loss of the Astral/Umbral timer, but yeah the cast time change will just make BLM play like a healer who doesn’t have to heal.

[Voidmage]

Never wanted to post here again because it's useless anyway but here goes.

At this point why not just delete the caster role alltogether and get rid of mana and cast times?
DT saw BLM being changed for those who didn't play it and us BLM-mains didn't like it.
Now that we actually found some way to make it interesting again at points they just go and change it again in secret without warning and make it even easier.

Dear Mr. Yoshida:
You promised making jobs interesting again in 8.0 and give them back identity.
Why then go now the opposite way and make BLM even easier to play. Is that new and faster encounter design so important that everything has to be sacrificed for it?
Was the huge outcry after the first DT changes and the need to return Ice Paradox not enough?

But it is useless to post here anyway, because Yoshida doesn't care for feedback and this community at large will defend anything anyway, so here my final advice for the devs.

AT LEAST TALK AND EXPLAIN YOUR DECISIONS!

[Naomishtola]

This happened with Dragoon, Viper, Monk, Samurai and probably a bunch of classes before too. I guess every job needs to appeal to everyone but the people who actually enjoy(ed) the job.

[Niervel]

The refrain used to be - if you wanted a straightforward rotation with a lot of room for optimization that could get pretty complex, you go BLM.

So where do I get that now? I mean, where do I go to get a job that actually manages anything anymore? With these changes, where does one even migrate to?
Every other job has gotten dumbed down the point of absurdity already, so what refuge is left?

Another game, I guess.

[Leika]

At least i was hopefull as they restored ice paradox at least, so they seemed to care a bit, but with this changes i really lost hope tho

And i dont want to wait until 8.0 to have a nice BLM again, why we cant have 6.5 BLM again? with some nice aditions and QoL?

[Zefieee]

Having constant opportunities to slidecast for longer (you could already do this for small dodges like L/R cleaves) combined with no pressure to triplecast for damage makes me wonder what sort of mechanics are being planned for the latest savage, is it just going to be all Alarm Pheromones, all the time? Because players already made do.

[Rithy255]

At this point I need to accept that the game is no longer designed for anyone who wants interesting job design as all the effort seems to go towards "fight design"

I've seen this happen to jobs I've loved, PLD, DRG, MNK, AST (Even more) like whats the actual point of encounters if theirs no intresting job designs to make encounters actually fun and unique with reclears/bringing a new job

[Halala]

I don't really post in the forums, but I felt the need to chime in for this, since everyone always says the only feedback that matters is what people say in the forums.

Who thought these changes to BLM was a good idea?

The whole point of playing BLM over any other caster was because it felt Good to have a lot of things to juggle, and the enochian timer was one of the main things I balanced my decision making around. The change to umbral heart that paused enochian in when ice was great for the downtime between phases, and I could always just transpose to get to it if the boss became untargetable while I was still in fire... and now the timer is being ditched entirely? The Enochian timer, which has been at the core of how BLM plays since I first started playing FFXIV? The Enochian timer, source of memes and comradery when BLMs commiserate about accidentally dropping it? The Enochian timer, which is the Reason that mastering BLM in a fight feels so satisfying, when you've got it down to the point that you never drop it even once? Enochian, one of the Core Mechanics of Black Mage's Job Identity?

I may not have gotten the chance to play the changes yet, but this one... I can't see any reason for it other than making BLM play like all the other casters, so that people who already have plenty of options for the particular playstyle they like can try BLM for 2 seconds and go back to Picto. But what about those of us who want a caster that *doesn't* play like the others do?

I was in denial for a solid 10 minutes after hearing about this change, and I really really REALLY hope they decide to reverse it... but judging by how other classes have had massive overhauls, despite the protestations of the people who play those jobs, it's not looking very likely...